30 in 30: Diet Production’s Channel

by Daniel Johnson

Howdy readers! Before trotting through this bit of 30 in 30 feel free to enter here to win a free Blu-ray of The Best of WWE at Madison Square Garden. Also, for y’all looking for more information on 30 in 30 go here.

Frequency new videos are added: Less than once a week. Yesterday for instance a video was added, but before that none had been added for three weeks.

Frequency full shows are added: No full wrestling cards have been added, but oddly enough there is a full boxing show on the channel.

Total views of the most popular video: 8,629

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For better or worse the central operations of the NWA are now run out of Texas by R. Bruce Tharpe and friends. While the current incarnation of the NWA has gotten a lot of crap thrown at it, and deservedly so, one benefit their current setup offers is to partner with Diet Productions. Since this YouTube channel is run by a Houston based production company rather than a wrestling promotion it features more than just wrestling. Take for example this advertisement for Walker Texas Lawyer (one badass sounding law firm by the way). As for the actual wrestling, NWA Branded Outlaw Wrestling (NWA BOW) takes center stage for the channel. The production quality is superior to many independent promotions out there even if some matches have some tough to follow MTV style editing in them.

A recommended clip:

“The Iron Man” Rob Conway vs. “The Tokyo Monster” Kahagas

This match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship has a 1970’s big time vibe to it despite taking place in front of a lackluster crowd. Commentator Matt Topolski helps out with this feel by sounding genuinely enthused by the action. Before the match begins “The Iron Man” Rob Conway comes out to “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath, which is a big step up from his WWE theme. The commentator mentions that Rob Conway was brought in as a last minute replacement, in pure kayfabe of course. As “The Tokyo Monster” Kahagas locks up with Conway one fan can’t help, but shout, “Super Dragon.” Well, it’s good to see that, that meme is still alive.

Conway and Kahagas feel each other out for a while before Kahagas gets Conway in a corner and punches and kicks him to the ground. To get a breather from being pounded Conway escapes to outside the ring, but this breather does not last long. Kahagas attacks Conway and starts throwing chairs in the ring. He then wallops Conway with a Singapore cane. Back inside the chairs have magically disappeared (or the ref removed them) and Kahagas puts his boots to Conway’s face.

The match spills again to the outside and this time Conway and Kahagas fight all over the crowd. Kahagas even hits Conway with some chair shots to the back. Despite, this the match doesn’t feel like a no disqualification match, but rather like an old school contest where the ref is willing to let some things slide. Throughout Conway’s beating, he is able to sneak some shots in as the fight evens out. Once the two go back in the ring Conway gets in a wicked brief chopfest on Kahagas before Kahagas chops Conway from post to post.

Conway and Kahagas wrestle outside one last time when Conway elbows Kahagas out of the ring. Despite his excellent commentary one has to laugh when Topolski says, “Veteran move from Conway,” after Conway lands a chair shot. It is not like it took much forethought to do that. As the match winds down there is a bit more back and forth on the inside until Conway wins it all with a brainbuster variation.